In one of the most exhilarating sports on the Olympic program, ski jumpers attempt to defy gravity, sliding down a ramp and launching themselves into the air with the goal of landing as far away as possible. 

A jump can be divided into four parts: the in-run, or the slide down the ramp, the takeoff from the ramp, flight and landing. Jumpers are scored based on distance and style, and points are added and subtracted to account for changes in the wind or gate elevation.

The ski jumping competition at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics will feature six events: three for men, two for women and one mixed event.

Two of the events will make their Olympic debut at the upcoming Winter Games: the women’s large hill and the men’s super team.

A maximum of 50 athletes per gender can qualify for Olympic ski jumping for a total of 100 athletes overall. For the team events, each National Olympic Committee (NOC) may enter one team if they have secured enough quota spots to participate — two for the men’s super team and four for the mixed team. 

Before the Olympics begin, each participating NOC receives a designated number of quota spots, based on its athletes’ World Cup and Summer Grand Prix results, which determine how many athletes the country may add to its Olympic roster. When there are no more athletes ranked on the Olympic Quota Allocation list, countries may enter athletes from the (Inter-)Continental Cup rankings lists.

The host country automatically receives one quota place per gender.

In ski jumping, the main difference between the normal and large hills is their size. Typically, the K-point (or the point of the hill where it begins to flatten out) of the normal hill ranges from 85m to 99m (approximately 279 feet to 325 feet), while the K-point of the large hill ranges from 100m to 180m (approximately 328 feet to 591 feet). 

Additionally, the number of points awarded for every meter a jumper travels beyond the K-point varies slightly between hills. Athletes receive more points for every meter traveled on the normal hill. 

The normal hill at the Milan Cortina Olympics is an HS109 with a K-point of 98 meters (about 322 feet), and the large hill is an HS123 with a K-point of 128 meters (about 420 feet).

Individual Events

In both the men’s and women’s individual events, there is a qualification (or first) round and a final (medal event). Each NOC can enter a maximum of eight athletes (4 men, 4 women) for each individual event. Jumpers use the same bib in both rounds.

The qualification round includes one trial jump and one scored jump. The starting order is split into two groups: Those without World Cup points, who compete in order by random draw, and those with World Cup points, who compete in reverse order of the World Cup rankings. Those without World Cup points jump first, and the 30 athletes with the best scores advance to the final round.

The final round's format is similar. Jumpers are allowed one trial jump in the final as well, though they participate in two rounds of competitive jumps instead of just one. Athletes compete in reverse order based on the results of the first round, meaning the 30th-ranked athlete will jump first, and the first-ranked athlete will jump last. 

The jumper with the highest combined score from the two rounds wins.

Men’s Super Team

New to the Olympic catalog is the men’s super team event, in which two men from the same NOC compete together in three scored rounds: a first round, a second round and a final. Each athlete jumps in each round, and scores carry over from round to round.

Before competition begins, athletes are divided into two groups, with one athlete from each country in each group.

In the first round, each athlete jumps once in reverse order according to World Cup standings. Points are awarded according to the same criteria used to measure distance and style, as well as to accommodate for wind and gate changes, in other ski jumping events. The top-12 teams, based on the two athletes’ combined scores, progress to the second round.

The second round is exactly the same as the first. Athletes compete in the same order and complete one jump each before their points are added to their first-round totals. The top-eight pairs from the second round progress to the final.

The process repeats again for the third and final round, except that athletes jump in reverse order of their team’s rank after the second round. Points scored in the third round then are added to the team totals from the first two phases, and the team with the most total points wins.

Mixed Team Event

Teams of two men and two women compete in two scored rounds on the normal hill, with each athlete jumping once in each round. Only nations who have qualified two ski jumpers of each gender to the individual events may enter the mixed team event.

Athletes are divided into four groups (women’s, men’s, women’s, men’s) and compete in that order through both rounds. Each group competes in its entirety, going in reverse order according to World Cup standings, before moving onto the next. 

After the first round, the top-eight teams with the highest combined scores move onto the final, in which jumpers compete in reverse order of rankings based off their point totals from the first round. The team with the most points at the end of the round wins.

In each ski jumping event, athletes compete in the first round (or, in the case of the men’s super team event, the first two rounds) to gain points. Athletes with the most points at the end of the round advance, though the number of athletes varies by round and event.

The most common reason for disqualification during ski jumping competitions is a suit violation. The International Ski Federation (FIS) has defined a series of rigid parameters regarding the fit, material, dimensions and other characteristics of the jumping suits so as to ensure fair competition and athlete safety — some of which are so strict that even inadvertent daily fluctuations in body weight may impact a suit’s eligibility.

Other possible reasons for disqualification include violations related to ski length, the use of fluorinated wax or ski poles, penalties for which the infraction results in an advantage for the jumper with regard to the end result, missing bibs, and false or late starts.